Engine



March 4, 1941. F. H. w. MILLER ENGINE 5 SheeoS-Sheefl l Filed Feb. 2l, 1939 o e .4 m m mw O 9 0 mw w n MN F le m m wm l ||dl \w Q/ m M m .W Il V l m. T JIQ. N w Il A l I w I M M Nm J Q Nq. h wn wm E lll; EY NN NN uw EMB www X N .n m wmf Nw N /H/ u m w V V M |11 NN N\\,v/ QN u n d S QN NN Nm, Si@ ww f Q Nm r N A w D h m l w |i||||| ynm TS I N|\ w l m MN QN Ihm March 4, 1941. F. H. w. MILLER ENGINE Filed Feb. 21, 1939 3 Sheets-'Sheet 2 ...M H hm hw Nw n mw ,Hf ,1Q I i m @vm S bf. NN I l n@ |11 ...N MN NN MN March 4, 1941. F. H. w. MILLER ENGINE Filed Feb. 2l, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR, EMfcYf/ W//LLLE BY MW@ l ATTORNEYS.

ciple. In Figure 2 I show intake valves I-5 on the lower side-S 0f the cylinders A to D inclusive, and exhaust valves IE on the upper sides of the same cylinders. gear I1 and an exhaust cam gear I8, meshing the motor shaft 8. The ratio between the gears I1, I8 and I9 is such as to cause the cam gears" I1 and I8 to rotate at one-half the speed of the engine shaft 8'. The cam gears I1 and I8 are-en closed in a housing 20 that forms a part of the casing. I. v

In Figure 2 I show intake tappets 2| extending from both sides of the lower portion of the casing 20 and exhaust tappets 22 extending from both 25.. sides of the upper portion of the cam casing.

Since all of the tappets are identical, I have shown only one tappet in cross section in Figure 2 and a description of this one will suffice for all. The exhaust tappet 22 shown in section consists 30,1; of a sleeve that is integral with the casing 2n and acts as a guide for a tappet plunger 23. A cam follower, consisting of a roller 24 is rotatably carried by the plunger 23 and rides on the face of the cam gear I8. A tappet rod 25 extends from the plunger 23 to a rocker arm 26 which in turn is vrotatably mounted on a supporting rod 21. The l rod 21 is supported by arms 28 which in turn are connected to the cylinders C' and D. The rocker arm 28 bears against the stem Ia of the exhaust 40E valve I8.

The cam I1 has Atwo arcuate cam portions on one side and two arcuate po-rtions on the opposite side. In Figure 3 I have indicated the intake tappets 2| for the front cylinders A and B and '453 therefore these tappets may be referred to as A2I and B2i. It will be noted that the roller 24 of the tappet A2I is disposed further away from the center of the cam gear I1 than is the roller 24 of the tappet B2I. The undersurface of the cam 503 gear I1 when looking at Figure 3 is provided with cam portions AI1 and BI'1 for engaging with the cam followers on the tappets A2I and B2I. In like manner, the front face of the cam follower I1 ,a h'ascam portions CH and DI1 for engaging with the cam followers onthe tappets 2I connected with the intake Valves I5 in the rear cylinders 1 CandD. When the cam gear I1 is rotated, the intake tappets will be actuated to operate the intake valves I5 in all four cylinders in proper se- ='\quence.

` The exhaust cam gear I8 is provided with cam portions AIS `and BI8 on one face and with cam portions CI 8 and DI8 on the opposite face. These .v cam portions are arranged to actuate the exhaust Valves I `I5 in all four cylinders in proper sequence. In Figure 4 I show the firing order for the four cylinders A to D inclusive. I further indicate the movement of the connecting rods 3 and ,6 and :what takes place in all four cylinders during the four cycles. It will be noted that the left-hand diagram in Figure 4 shows the cylinder C firing, and the next diagram shows the cylinder A firing. The th'ird diagram from the left shows the cylinder B ring and the last diagram shows the cyl"- In Figure 3, I show an intake ca rm 15 with a drive gear I9 which in turn is secured to inder D firing. The firing' order of the four cylinders therefore follows a clockwise rotation around the four cylinders. It will further be noted that the firing of cylinder C in the left-hand diagram will cause the piston in this cylinder to move in the direction of the arrow and to move the piston in the cylinder A during its compression stroke. In this way, part of the horizontal thrust created by the firing in the cylinder C will be absorbed b-y the piston in the-.cylinder A moving through its compression stroke.l 1

In order to completely absorb the horizontal thrust created by the firing in any one of the four llcylinders, I can mount two engines in tandem as ders in a horizontal planeeliminates vertical vi-y bration and the use of two engines connected in tandem and fired in the'rmannerjust described, will eliminate horizontal vibration. The arrangement of twoengines in tandem is therefore highly desirable for use in airplanes. In Figure 5 I show two sets of tandem engines mounted in the wings 29 of an airplane 30. The shafts 8 of both sets of tandem engines are directly connected to propellers 3I.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood. f'

It is not necessary to show the ignition circuits for the spark plugs 32 nor is it necessary to describe any particular oil circulating mechanism for removing oil from the housing I through an o-il outlet pipe 33, see Figure 2, and for delivering the oil intothe top of the housing through twooil inlet pipes, 34. 'It will be noted that the pipes 34 are arranged on opposite sides of the swash plate E and oil will drop from the pipes 34 directly onto the shaft 8. The rotation of the shaft 8 will throw the oil by centrifugal force into the cross head guides v5 and from there the oil will be thrown intol the bottoms of all four ofv the cylinders A rtoD inclusive,r by the reciprocation of the cross heads 4 and the piston rods 3 and s. The oil will drain from the cyiinders tackv into the lower portionof the housing I and thus complete the voil circuit. l

The four cylinders will fire in the manner shown in Figure 4 and the intake cam I1 and the exhaust cam I8 will actuate the intake and exhaust valves in proper order to cause each:

respective pistons `and the rods 6 are pivotally' the opposed cylinders not be directly in alignment with each other. vIt will be noted that I eliminate wrist pins and this does away with connecting rod slap.vl I low pressure oiling is used and the oilmerelydrops'onto the shaft 8. The'swash plate E permits the force of the explosion to be more quickly delivered to the shaft 8 for rotating the shaft and this is due to the fact that the connecting rods 3 and 6 are rigidly secured to the pistons. Wear on the double thrust bearings can be taken up by adjusting the collar I3 for simultaneously altering the Widths of both ball bearing raceways.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, it should be understood that various changes or modications may be made within the `scope of the appended claims Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. An engine comprising a shaft, a swash plate including a disc rigidly secured to the shaft and extending at an angle to the shaft axis, a ring rotatably mounted on the disc, there being a rotative connection throughout the entire adjacent circumferences of the disc and ring, radiallyextending trunnions carried by the ring, sleeves having transverse bores for slidably and rotatably receiving the trunnions, cross-heads having bores for rotatably receiving the sleeves, parallel guides for slidably receiving the cross-heads, cylinders disposed at the ends of the gui-des and having their axes lying parallel therewith, pistons slidably mounted in the cylinders, and connecting rods rigidly connected to the pistons, one connecting rod of each pair of pistons being rigidly secured to its cross-head and the other connecting rod being pivotally secured to the same cross-head.

2. A swash plate for an engine comprising a disc having a shaft-receiving bore therein extending at an angle, said disc having a screw-receiving bore extending at right angles to the shaft axis, said disc also having a double groove ball bearing raceway formed at its peripheral corner edges, a ring enclosing the disc periphery and being provided with a ball bearing groove raceway cooperating with one of the disc grooves for receiving ball bearings, a collar threaded into the ring and formed with a ball bearing raceway cooperating With the other disc groove, ball bearings place-d n the cooperating racevvays, said ring carrying radially-extending trunnions designed to be operatively connected to the pistons.

FREDERICK H. W. MILLER.. 

